The invention relates to an ignition system for an internal combustion engine having a combustion chamber and having a fuel injection device, which injects the fuel directly into the combustion chamber in a stream-guided fashion; at least one spark plug is connected to the ignition system and has a middle electrode and at least one ground electrode and ignites the injected fuel.
An ignition system of the type defined at the outset is known from German Patent Disclosure DE 198 04 463. This reference shows a fuel injection device which injects the fuel directly into a combustion chamber formed by a cylinder/piston construction. A spark plug protrudes into the combustion chamber. By means of a targeted injection of fuel by means of the fuel injection device with at least one stream, a stream-guided combustion process is implemented by the formation of a corresponding cloud of fuel mixture. In the known stream-guided combustion process, the fuel mixture cloud required for combustion is formed solely by the injection. It is then especially important that the fuel stream and the location of the ignition spark at the spark plug be positioned with extreme precision relative to one another. Only then is good reliability of ignition assured.